Ready-roofing material.



W. H. WOERHBIDB.

READY ROOFING MATERIAL.

APPLICATION FILED 00112, 1911.

1,055,848, Patented Mar. 11,1913.

Aw h inventor:

m. .W QGA W. H .Wyzhaide g bY ' Mus.

NILLLLM H. WOERHEIDE. OF

READY-ROOFING MATERIAL.

Specification of Letters Patent. Pate ted M3 11 13913;

Application filed October 12, 1911; Serial No. ($4,332.

To all whom it may comeru:

Beit known that I, WILLIAM H. Wornnnms, a citizen of the. United States of America, and resident of the city ofSt.

Louis and State of Missouri, have invented certan new and useful Improvements in Ready-Roofing'Materials, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact descrip-v tion, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specificat-ion. e I

My invention relates to that character of roofing material's commonly known as prepared roofings, and which comprise a sheet of suit-able material, such as wool felt, sat-" urated and coated With 50ft asphalt compounds.- a 7 Prepared roofings of the kind referred to have beenwidelyused inthe roofs of buildings, such as factories, warehouses, barns, sheds, andftheli-ke, .where the question of appearance of thereof was of no great importance, but have not been found suitable for use in the roofs of residences, churches,

and other buildings, in which pleasing and 7 sightly appearance are considered matters of importance, aside from the subject of durability'and other qualities of the roofing material.

One of the objectionable characteristics of a prepared roofingmaterial including an asphalt compound is'that the asphalt compound, being blackin color, is not such a color as is pleasing to the eye to render the roofing popular.

My invention has for its object to so construct a roofing material of the kind herein referred to as to make it feasible toapply paints of any desired colors to the surface of the roofing material Without danger of the paint cracking, checking or peeling due to changes that take. place in the plastic mass of asphalt owing to its expansion and contraction under changes of temperature.

I deem it important to here draw atten tion to the fact thatroofing manufacturers have, for many years, endeavored by experiments to find a paint that would be suitable for use upon a roofing material surface comprising asphalt; but so far as I- am aware. the results of all their efforts have been failures, due to the cracking, checking, or what is commonly known as alligatoring of the painted surfaces and the asphalt beneath such surfaces. The experiments to pound, which renders it-{unfit of .rather to provide a roofing, material with a means that will prevent'th'eexp'ansion and paint then oofing materials have,therefore, none of them met with success.

When prepared roofing material having an upper'layer of asphalt compound is 'put into service on aroof, there exists atop layer of asphalt compound, the under por tion of which is unset and issurrounded by a thin skin or film which becomes set andremains set-.while the asphalt compound be-' neath it remains plastic; This being true, it is apparent that, when the roofing'inaterial is in use in a roof andsubjected to changes of temperature, there. is unequal expansion and contraction of the adjoinin unset and set portions'of asphalt compoun j The soft unset under. portion of the compound expands during the heat ofthe day and contracts under the cooler atmosphere atnight to much greater degree-than the set top film, and, ,due to this' unequal expansion and contraction, there is-resulta'nt cracking and checking ofthetopf surfacejof' coinadequately h'old a coatingib .pain

It is not the aim of my present improvement to provide any particular or new paint,- such. as roofing manufacturers have endeavored in the past to find, wh.ichis suit? able for application to roofingmateriahnbut contract-ion of the unset ortion of. the top. layer .of asphalt from .iiavin'g any effect upon the set top film above: it; hence-avoid ingliability of the'cracki of-the top film;

ceive and s so that it is ready to receive andsatisfactorily hold a coat of paint'of any desired color immediately after-'the-roofing material is laid in a roof. I p

Figure I is a perspective -yiew of a'frag ment of a roof includingshe'athing' boardsand sheets of my" prepared roofing laid} thereon. F ig. II 'is an enlarged cross sec-" tion taken on line II-II, Fig. I; Fig; III is an enlarged longitudinal section taken on line III-III,- Fig. I. Fig. IV is a greatly enlarged cross section of afragment of one of the roofing sheets at one of itsside edges.

In the accompanying drawings: A desig uates sheathing boards of the roof, and B- sheets of my prepared roofing laid upon said shcathin boards with the slope of the roof, the roo ng sheets being laid in overlapping relation and being held by fastening strips C through which nails, or other suitable securing devices,- are passed to extend into the sheathing boards.

Generally stated, the sheets B of prepared roofing comprise a body strip 1 of wool felt, or other suitable material, to the two faces of which bottom'and top layers .2 and 3 of e an asphalt compound are applied, the bodv strip being preferably first saturated and then coated with the asphalt compound according to the practice commonly in vogue in making prepared roofings of the kind to which my invention relates. My improvement does not pertain to the coating of the body layer with layers of asphalt compound and no invention per se is herein claimed for such a product.

With the object in View of avoiding the cracking or checking of the top film or stratum of the asphalt compound of my roofing material, I embed into the top asphalt compound layer 3 of the roofing sheets B, a sheet 4' of even open mesh, fine thread fabric, for illustration cheese cloth, this open mesh fine thread fabric sheet being located immediately at and embedded into the top surface of the asphalt compound and its mesh being filled with the asphalt compound. The location of the open mesh fine thread fabric sheet is such that there is only a top film of asphalt compound above it which will not be afl ectedby expansion and'contraction of the softer body of asphalt compound beneath and in its mesh, as so much of the asphalt compound as lies directly in line with the open mesh fine thread fabric sheet enters into the cells provided by't-he mesh of the fabric. By the positioning of the open mesh fine thread sheet of. fabric, as stated, I separate the top film of asphalt compound from the unset asphalt compound beneath it, so that when expansion and contraction of the under unset asphalt compound takes place, or the under unset asphalt compound is alternately softened under heat rays of the sun and again becomes harder when not subjected to the heat rays, as at night, the top film is unaffected to any material de gree by means of such expansion and contraction of the under unset compound. It is to be further noted that the fine thread fabric, by permitting the presence of the asphalt compound directly in the open mesh of the fabric, provides keys extending downwardly from the top film, Which by reason of their being embedded in the fabric, in close juxtaposition to each other,

' serve in conjunction with the fabric to rein which woven fabrics were employed. In

the previous instances, burlap, canvas, and other coarse thread woven fabrics, were used, the object in their use being to strengthen or reinforce the roofing material. These fabrics are, however, entirelv different in nature to the even open mesh fine thread fabric, such as cheese cloth, used in my roofing material, and it is impossible to gain the result I gain without using such even open mash fine thread fabric as I utilize. Burlap is entirely unsuited for use in my roofing material for the reason that its mesh is not uniform, it is sleazy, and its threads are of varying sizes without the slightest degree of firmness to maintain their relative positions. An outer film of asphalt cannot, therefore be keyed at uniformly distant points through burlap to an under layer or body of asphalt. The closely woven fabrics heretofore used are of such nature as to absolutely prevent the keying of the top film to the under layer .of asphalt. VVhen a roofing material having burlap therein is painted, there is lack of uniformity of resistance offered by the fabric to prevent checking or cracking of the paint, this being due to the unevenness of themesh of the fabric, and its sleaziness; and where canvas or other closely woven fabric is used, there is insuflicient keying action between the under layer of asphalt and the top film, hence no opportunity to prevent checking or cracking of the film, to prevent its peeling from the fabric. accomplishable in the use of the burlap and closely woven fabrics heretofore used, .the even open mesh fabric employed in my roofing material aifords opportunity for the top film of the asphalt being keyed with regu- In contradistinction to the results Another advantageous feature and a very important one in the use of the fine thread fabric utilized in my roofing material as compared with the use of fabrics of the kind heretofore employed in the asphalt compounds of materials is that of the tine thread fabric providing for a substantially uniform depth. of the top film of asphalt compound above the fabric. in the use of burlap, canvas, and other fabrics previously employed, the threads are coarse and, as a consequence, these threads, where they cross each other in the Weave of the fabric, furnish recesses of considerable depth into which the asphalt compound above the fabric enters, so that while the body of asphalt compound above the fabric may be in the main of a uniform depth, it is of much greater depth at the location of the recesses referred to. As a consequence, the asphalt compound overlying the fabric is of such Ull-tllllfOl'ln depth as to prevent the even setting and hardening of the compound. The fine thread fabric used in my roofing material contains very slight recesses where the threads cross each other, and, as a result, the top film which it is desired to paint and to have the paint adhere adequately thereto, is rendered of substantially uniform depth throughout its extent, and is thicker than substantially half the thickness of the cheese cloth 'thread will set and harden approximately uniformly at all points, as desired, in order that.- there will be no detrimental expansion and contraction of this tihn, such as takes place in the top layer of asphalt compound of the uniform depth inrldcnt' to the use of cross thread fabrics.

I claim:

A. rooting material comprising a suitable backing, a lay r of asphalt cwnpound carried by said backing". and a sheet of even open mesh fabri of a fineness of thread and mesh substantially that of cheesecloth embedded into the top surface of such layer of compound, confining the major portion of this top layer of compound in the interstices of the open mesh fabric. therr ry allowing only a mere film of compound over the fabric.

WILLIAM H. \YOlCRllllllHC.

In the presence of E. B. IAIXN, A. T. i\'lc( iuiinv. 

